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If you’re a business owner, you have likely heard about how social media has a way of spreading the word about your business, even if you no clue on why or how it achieves results. Although it can take a lot of work to maintain a number of social media accounts, the overall benefits for your business are innumerable.

It is well within your reach to use social media if the correct strategies are implemented. If you’re standing at the side-line watching your competitors take center stage by using social media to boost consumer interest, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be jumping on the bandwagon too.

Here are a few top reasons as to why you should be using social media as a method to grow your business:

1. Gets the word out about your business

Firstly, social media helps spread the message about your business and gets potential new customers talking about your product or service. You will gain plenty of recognition for your business and gain a platform to talk to your target audience. This will build trusting relationships that are crucial for business success.

Your followers and fans are likely to spread the word to their own contacts about your business if you make a good impression, which should go on to grow your customer base considerably.

2. It’s cost-effective

Unlike other forms of marketing, social media offers great return on investment – which is an important characteristic for any business.

Due to the changes in algorithms on Facebook , which is now favoring personal posts, you will need to make low-cost advertising part of your financial plan. These adverts are designed to promote your product or service to reach a large quantity of your target audience.

Learning how to budget effectively for marketing campaigns can be difficult, as you don’t necessarily know how effective they will be in the long-term or whether your finances are being put to good use. Many business owners choose to enroll onto a finance course to learn how to succeed in a technology-based world and understand the impacts of financial decision making, by studying an online MBA in Finance.

Many businesses spend so much money on failed marketing techniques, that they aren’t left with many funds to grow their business in other departments. Rest assured, social media has been proven to have a winning combination of cost-effectiveness and success.

3. It’s extremely popular

Social media is growing exponentially in popularity and users of every age have accounts across a variety of platforms as a way of connecting with friends and finding out the latest news. Facebook has an impressive 1.7 billion users active each month and is most often the starting platform for small businesses looking to grow their following.

However, other platforms such as Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram are all used to grow the interest of a business. Instagram for example, has 1 billion active users per month and tends to generate business interest with the use of influencers. These accounts are paid to promote certain products or services to their own follower base, with the intention of generating traffic to the business account and website.

https://i2.wp.com/www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/social-3064515_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=18531280StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2019-02-06 20:00:582019-02-06 12:30:50How Social Media Can Grow Your Business

A one-of-a-kind website is essential for impressing your target audience. Keep in mind that it is thanks to an audience that the goods and services your business offers are used.

Without an online presence, no one will know about your company’s mission, and nor will you stand to make any profit as a result of it. Thus, you need to have a website that allows you to market your brand properly, and leaves a strong impression on anyone that finds it.

The very first step is to hire individuals who are experts in web design and development. Moreover, you want to guarantee that it is user-friendly so that people can easily navigate it, and lastly remain consistent with the branding you set up for it. All of these tips will be further explained below.

With professional assistance

There are expert web designers for a reason, and they know exactly how to help you put together the ultimate website for your brand. There is no need to spend countless hours learning how to do it yourself from scratch.

You should also keep in mind there are certain agencies and individuals who specialize in your niche company needs. After all, if you are looking to grow your charity’s website, you want the assistance of a reputable company such as Charity Box, that knows exactly how to grow your specific brand.

Everything from the development and up-keep assistance can be tied back to hiring the best professionals for the task. More so, given that they are already knowledgeable on the subject, they have a good understanding over what has and has not worked for other companies in the past, and can reduce the amount of trial and error that you have to go through.

Ensure it is user-friendly

Is your website user-friendly? This can include the following factors:

Easy to navigate

Clear layout

Readable text

Simple payment methods

Imagine that an individual starts to browse your website, but they have a hard time understanding what you do. It could be that the layout is jumbled and disorganized, the text itself isn’t clear, among many other factors. Company reputation is important, and if people can’t spend more than 5 seconds on your site, you need to re-evaluate everything you put together thus far.

Remain consistent with your branding

Remaining consistent is also crucial to build stronger relations with your audience. Once enough time and marketing effort have been put into growing your company, people will start to recognize you even by simply seeing your business logo.

It is incredibly important that you don’t change courses out of the blue with your branding, as this will only confuse people and further ruin the relationship you built with them. All in all, your brand will suffer if you are not careful.

Remember, when you impress your target audience, you are also strengthening the relationship with those individuals. They will be so impressed with your content, that they will continue visiting your website to check for updates. You also want them to spread the word about your company, and the only way you can do this is if you create an online presence that is buzz-worthy.

https://i0.wp.com/www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/AcerLaptop.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=17981200StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2019-01-03 16:00:122019-01-04 12:40:43How To Create A Website That Will Impress Your Target Audience

Boosting your website’s performance needs to be your number one priority. Without a great site, all of your digital marketing efforts will be for naught. Imagine, as a user, you see an ad on Instagram. You are interested, click it, and are directed to a website that fails to meet your trust factors. Perhaps it doesn’t work on mobile, or perhaps its design is old and outdated, making it difficult to navigate. There are many different trust factors that online users rely on nowadays before they buy from a new company online.

Boosting your website’s performance isn’t rocket science, but it does need to implemented well and to the best of your ability. You need to ensure your website is secure, that its information is correct, and that downtime is limited. Users do not want to be made a fool of, so ensure your website is up to code. To show them your site can be trusted you need to improve your site and its digital presence.

Understand How Users Are Interacting with It

Google analytics or other tracking tools can be incredibly useful in determining where the problem areas of your website are. A high bounce rate indicates that your homepage or perhaps your PPC marketing strategy are in some way failing. A less than impressive home page can have people click off before they even see your product lists, whereas a misguided PPC strategy can have people who don’t want your site click on your ads.

Conduct an SEO Audit

Understanding how users are engaging with your site will help you address the key problem areas first, but that doesn’t mean you should ever stop there. Go through and conduct a full website or SEO audit to clean up your website, ensure there are no broken links, unnecessary redirects, or now black-listed SEO tactics on your site.

Commit to a Strong Content Strategy

Content is king because it is how customers can engage your website in more ways than just scrolling through your product or services pages. It is how you can become a true resource to your customers, and how you can attract new, organic traffic streams.

Create content that is effective and useful to your audience. Post it on your company blog but also across social media. Keep to a consistent plan, such as uploading a weekly blog post every Tuesday, for instance, and make your content interactive.

Hire an SEO Agency

Auditing your website is step one. It is essential if you want any future digital marketing tactics to work well, because if your site isn’t looking great then getting people to your site will result in nothing more than a high bounce rate. If your site needs a huge overhaul, however, it is wise to hire an Austin SEO agency like Creatif Digital that can help improve your site’s design, SEO, and then work with you to bring more organic traffic to your site through search rankings and PPC marketing.

Your website needs to be perfect, because if there is any hitch in its performance, you can turn away a potential customer in a second. Go through and remove any problem areas, improve it with SEO and content in mind, and know your limits. If you don’t have the resources or skill needed to do this, hire a company who can make these improvements for you.

As an entrepreneur, learning to navigate the business landscape can be tricky, especially if it is your first time starting a business. Learning the hard way is never advised if you can absorb the lessons of those who have sailed into the business world before you. However, as an entrepreneur, you may be facing greater risks than normal that can potentially become snares on the path to success. Consider these seven pitfalls to avoid if you want your company to flourish.

Not Setting Clear Goals

A business owner who does not take the time to set clear goals and objectives will travel in many different directions, and is more likely to waste time, money, and effort in the process. Avoid making the mistake of “winging it” as you go, or you may find yourself nowhere fast, or moving in unprofitable circles. Not setting logical, measurable goals can result in great frustration and disorder. Goals and objectives serve as a way to determine whether or not the company is making meaningful progress. Without goals, it is far more difficult for employees to meet quality standards, and for CEOs to make intelligent decisions on behalf of the business. Making your goals too general, or creating unreasonable, elusive aims can leave you and your employees wondering whether the company is sailing forward, or stagnant at sea.

Not Performing Market Research

Many individuals may brainstorm what they believe is a great business idea, but it is a mistake to avoid performing thorough market research before launching any type of business. By understanding the intended industry you plan to break into, you can make more strategic moves to obtain higher influence and more customers while blazing a trail to success. Selecting an oversaturated market can also make it far more difficult for your business to excel, so it is recommended to pick a niche market that you can dominate in.

Not Defining Your Target Market

A business that intends to serve everyone often ends up serving nobody well. It is crucial to focus on a target audience as an entrepreneur. The Small Business Chronicle declares that any company that lacks a target audience can have haphazard promotion strategies, severe budget issues, ineffective consumer tracking, and poor site traffic and conversions. If you know who is a part of your target audience, then you can invest in marketing, omni-channel advertising, and product research and development accordingly.

Not Having Adequate Capital

Ensuring that you have enough financial resources to launch and keep the doors of your business open is wise. It is critical for business owners to secure enough capital to execute operations,obtain efficient, industry software and equipment, and to compensate employees (if you have them). As a small business owner, you can get a loan to help meet fundamental financial needs required to launching and maintaining your business. With a combination of personal funding, loan monies, and funds from investors, you can successfully fuel your small business.

Not Following a Solid Budget Plan

Having money at your disposal is not enough. Acting without a detailed budget plan for your company is reckless and can lead to a significant waste of resources. The Small Business Administration reports that about half of small businesses survive the first five years, but only a third make it past the 10-year mark. Business failure is often a result of the lack of financial resources. CEOs that are too eager to launch without being prepared for both fundamental and unexpected expenses are often stricken by surprise. It is not unusual for a small business to make little to no profit during the establishment stage, so your access to financial resources must be secure until you can generate a steady profit.

Not Creating an Online Presence

Billions of people browse the internet daily, and a huge number access social media platforms every day. If you want to launch a successful business, you cannot underestimate the power of an attractive online presence and reputation. In addition to creating an excellent website that is easy for visitors to navigate, your site and sales funnels must be mobile-optimized for stronger search engine optimization (SEO). Forbes suggests that your site should be mobile-optimized to rank higher in search engines and to cater to the growing mass of mobile users.

Integrating social media marketing into your company’s marketing plan is fundamental to expand your reach to any target audience. Tons of consumers regularly use social media to interact with friends, family, coworker, and strangers, and they are often glad to share their experiences and review companies that they deal with. The Pew Research Center reports that nearly 90% of 18- to 29-year-olds use social media, nearly 80% of people aged 30 to 49, and about 64% of people aged 50 to 64. If your company builds a significant online presence and maximizes it through social media, you can obtain widespread exposure for your brand, and boost your sales significantly.

Not Selecting the Right Partner

One serious pitfall that business owners must avoid is selecting a terrible partner to go into business with. Giving up too much equity too soon with a bad partner is a move that an entrepreneur can live to regret. Although the excitement of launching a business with someone to assist you may seem like a good idea, if you end up at odds and ends with your partner, it will likely cost you in an expensive separation. However, selecting the ideal partner that possesses strong industry knowledge, passion, and is fully committed to the company mission is a true advantage. When you are feeling anxious, your partner can provide encouragement and offer solid advice and direction. Entrepreneur suggests that selecting someone who complements your strengths and weaknesses and shares your vision for the company is key.

Achieving success in a business does not occur by chance, but it is often the result of extensive preparation, deep work, compatible partnerships, and strategic execution. Creating a detailed business plan is the first major step to take to sail towards success in any industry. Having a mission that resonates with your values and the type of brand that you desire to represent to the world is essential for becoming fruitful in entrepreneurship. Small business owners that do not heed the warnings may find themselves out of business and in debt within the first few years. If you cover all of the bases and avoid dangerous pitfalls in your business, you can attain excellence on your journey.

https://i0.wp.com/www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/office-pen-calculator-computation-163032.jpeg?fit=1280%2C875&ssl=18751280StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2018-12-27 16:00:112018-12-27 15:45:25Navigating the Seas of Entrepreneurship: 7 Pitfalls You Need to Avoid as a Small Business Owner

All businesses need to keep their sale numbers up as high as possible to ensure that they are bringing in enough money each month to ensure they can cover all costs and still have enough money left over to make a profit. However, sometimes this isn’t always possible. Even though you might think that everything has been going well with your company’s operations and marketing strategies, there could still be periods during which your sales seem to tail off.

Even though you might not think that there is an obvious reason why your sales are dwindling, there probably is a cause for these poor sales. Sometimes, you just need to look a bit closer at your business to determine what that cause is. Here are a few common reasons why a company’s sales might dip every so often. Thankfully, most of them are simple enough to recover from.

Shake-Up At Management Level

Any issues at the management level of a business can create a trickle-down effect, and the consequences can often be felt throughout the organization. Even something that shouldn’t be too problematic, such as a manager resigning and a new professional taking their place, you might be surprised to find just how disruptive these changes can be. They can also affect areas of your business that they aren’t necessarily linked to, including sales. It’s just unfortunate that the trickle-down effect will disrupt most departments, so your sales won’t be immune to any changes at management level.

Ideally, your company’s marketing needs to be consistent at all times. There always needs to be a current strategy or campaign that your marketing department are implementing to ensure that your company is always visible to the public. If your business’s marketing efforts ever dip at any time, then you might notice that the quality of your marketing gets slightly worse. This will lead to fewer sales as it won’t be tempting any consumers to come and try out your brand. If you feel that your marketing campaigns need a bit of a revamp, you might want to invite an external marketing agency to come and collaborate with your in-house team.

Forgetting To Follow Up

Most of your sales team will be busy every day with contacting potential clients and cold-pitching to the public. This is hard work and I’m sure that most of the team will have a seemingly never-ending list of leads to contact. However, just contacting everyone once isn’t enough and this will rarely lead to any sales. Your sales team need to always remember to follow up on any leads that they have made contact with. This will then remind the lead about your company and can encourage them to go through with a purchase.

Bad Forecasting

At the start of every year, you should be making a few different business forecasts, including a projection of your potential future sales. It’s also important that these projections are regularly updated to reflect current data and figures.However, if you use bad data or make some mistakes while creating these projections, you could end up with some incorrect forecasts. If these overestimate how many sales you are estimated to make through the year, then there is no way your real sales figures will live up to the forecasts. This could reflect very badly on your company. So, it’s a good idea to use a sales management CRM to help you manage your current sales figures and turn them into a reliable forecast. These kinds of CRM can also give you other useful insights, such as how you can go about increasing your annual revenues.

No Training

Can you remember when the last time you offered training to your sales team was? If it was a few years ago, or you can’t even remember when you last trained the department, it’s a good idea to organize a course or one-off training day for them. It’s important that you stay on top of all your staff’s training so that they are continually at the top of their game. If you let training slip, then so will the standard of their work too. Ideally, you need to offer your sales staff at least one day of training each year so that they are always up to date with the current trends and best practices that are dominating the world of sales.

Bad Online Visibility

It’s also a good idea to try to stay on top of your company website’s SEO. Many entrepreneurs think that they only have to work on the site’s SEO when they are in the process of creating the website. Unfortunately, though, that isn’t the case. Ideally, you need to keep on working on the SEO throughout the entire lifespan of the website. Good websites should be regularly maintained or else their SEO will become useless. So, if you haven’t’ worked on your site in a while then there is a good chance that your company aren’t as visible online. Fewer people will be stumbling across the site because it won’t be ranking high in search engine results. And that means fewer people will be buying your products or services.

Aiming At The Wrong Target Market

Every single product or service on the market will have a set target audience. These are the people you need to sell to. If you aren’t 100% sure who is in your target audience, then you can carry out some market research to find out. Once you know, you then need to start aiming all of your marketing at them. If you end up targeting the wrong kind of people, then your marketing won’t be having a positive effect at all. You’ll just be pushing your product or service onto people who aren’t that interested in it at all.

As you can see, there are quite a few reasons why your sales might start to dwindle. Hopefully, you’ll be able to turn things right around before it’s too late for your business’s revenues!

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